Weather

More heavy rain, snow and rough winds are forecast for parts of the West Coast on Friday, but the brunt of the strongest storm to hit there in years is over.

It has left two people dead so far. Falling trees killed them in Oregon, where a third person was seriously injured.

Thursday's tempest inundatedexceptionally drought stricken Californiawith water, causing street and moderate river flooding, and making for blizzard-like conditions in the mountains, where more snow is expected.

It also knocked out power for 225,000 customers along from Northern California to the Canadian border. Crews restored much of it, but almost 185,000 were still without power late Thursday, according to a CNN tally.

"It never rains in California,"a 70's rock ballad goes. That's basically true, and it makes the state a notorious drought zone - currently the country's worst.

But when it does rain, the song warns: "It pours. Man, it pours!"

And pour it did late Wednesday to the tune of half an inch an hour in parts of the state's north, the National Weather Service said. More to come on Thursday; the Bay Area will brace for two to three inches.

Higher elevations north of San Francisco might get 10 inches of rain, forecasters said. A gushing fit for a tropical island.

If you're heading to the airport to fly to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, expect delays of three to six hours.

A nor'easter is expected to dump heavy rain and snow on the eastern United States late Tuesday into Wednesday and cause severe delays on what's traditionally the busiest travel day of the year, CNN meteorologists say. About 30 million people from the mountains of North Carolina to Maine could be affected.